It was kind of like a holiday weekend because of the Fourth of July, and although I worked at a car wash for the first half of the day on Saturday, I went to a first birthday party later that afternoon and then rented a movie and relaxed the rest of the day. Sunday was probably my favorite service all year long at church: we call it "Celebrate America." It is so AWESOME! Not until I started attending my church 3 years ago did I realize how much of a sucker I am for grand displays of patriotism.
We deck the sanctuary out in bunting and flags, and the choir prepares a medley of traditional American songs. We always have a guest speaker who has served in the military at some point, and we honor all the men and women of our congregation that have, past or present, served our country.
It is easy to get caught up in politics and tradition and the spectacle that Independence Day becomes. We get so focused on the picnics and the flags and the barbecues and the sparklers that we forget what the day is really about. As I looked around the service on Sunday, and even as I looked at my own reaction to the events, I realized that there is a stark contrast of the appreciation for freedom between my generation and older ones. I don't know if it is because they have lived through things and witnessed things in America that my peers can't imagine, or if it is because we are more inclined to mockery and sarcasm than previous generations.
I am a former history major and someone who grew up on PBS and documentaries. I am someone who loved American history from a very early age, and was the girl that idolized Ken Burns and Garrison Keillor but could have cared less for popular artists or celebrities of the day. As such, it hurt my feelings when people couldn't name at least half the states or place them on a map. It astonished me when people, adults even, didn't understand a basic timeline of American events. It drove me nuts when people couldn't even sing the National Anthem correctly or recite the pledge of allegiance. How could you not know? From my recollection, elementary school wasn't that hard. More than that, how could you not CARE?
Even I fell into the apathy trap. I stopped being shocked when people didn't know what I had always taken for granted as general knowledge. I gave in to the reality that most people didn't care. We are country that has so many distorted values, acknowledges that they exist and that we need to change them, but then does shockingly little about any of it. We are resigned to appreciate mediocrity on so many levels.
But in that service on Sunday, I realized that I do care. I am thankful for our nation, and as messed up as everything feels sometimes (don't get me started on the education system...) the fact stands that I live in a prosperous nation. I happened to be born in a country that is idealistic to a fault. But I would rather live with the sometimes foolish notion that any dream I have can and will come true if I am willing to buckle down and do the work than to feel hopeless or that no matter how hard I try it will never pay off.
My favorite part of the service was when we prayed for our country. I understand how powerless you can feel in such a big country, and with so many decisions really being out of your hands. But if I want something to be different, and I want it to change, I have to do what I can, how I can. And sometimes all you have left to do is pray.
"The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live."
1 Timothy 2:1-3 (MSG)
So I will be praying for my country. I will be praying for my leaders, national and local. I will be praying for a new revelation in the young people of the nation, for good leadership, for good choices, and for a new reverence and appreciation of freedom. Tomorrow, I am going to sleep in and then go to a barbecue with good friends, and we will watch some fireworks while we eat s'mores. But I can only do that because I am an American, and I am beyond blessed to be one.
No comments:
Post a Comment